Ottawa Senators hire Rob DiMaio as director of pro scouting

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Steve Staios has started to build his own front office.

The club’s president of hockey operations and general manager has hired former NHLer Rob DiMaio as the director of player personnel and head of pro scouting.

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DiMaio, 56, was brought to Ottawa from the Anaheim Ducks, where he spent the past two seasons as the Ducks assistant GM serving and also running Anaheim’s American Hockey League affiliate, the San Diego Gulls.

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Prior to joining the Ducks, DiMaio spent 13 seasons with the St. Louis Blues, serving as Director of Player Personnel for seven seasons between 2015 and 2022. He originally joined the Blues as a professional scout in 2008 before taking on the role of Director of Pro Scouting in 2012. DiMaio played a key role in helping St. Louis win a Stanley Cup in 2019.

Staios and DiMaio have a long relationship.

“We are excited to add Rob’s experience and acumen to our hockey management team,” Staios said. “He brings more than 30 years of experience as a player and executive and has a track record of success. Rob is a hard-working leader and a will be a great match to the team and culture we are building here in Ottawa.”

This hiring was made necessary by the decision to fire chief pro scout Rob Murphy and longtime scout Jim Clark at the end of the season.

Staios took over his role Nov. 1 and Dave Poulin was hired as senior VP on New Year’s Eve.

DiMaio is regarded in league circles as a good evaluator of talent. He opted to leave the Ducks at the end of the season for personal reasons, but was allowed to speak with other teams.

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The expectation is the club will make changes to its scouting staff on both the professional and amateur side. Plus, the club is facing movement in its player development area.

There’s also talk in league circles that the future of Belleville coach David Bell and his staff remains uncertain.

If they aren’t back, then the belief is Jay McKee of the Ontario Hockey League’s Brampton Bulldogs will be a top candidate.

DiMaio will be part of an Ottawa team that has a lot of work to do with its roster.

Not only does Staios need to determine what he’s going to do about the goaltending, there are decisions to be made at forward and defence.

Staios stated he didn’t feel this club was good enough to make the playoffs and is ready to make changes.

Joonas Korpisalo and Anton Forsberg were amongst the worst netminders in the NHL last season.

Signed to a five-year, $20-million US deal last July, Korpisalo finished ranked No. 50 in the league with an .890 save-percentage and Forsberg wasn’t much better.

League sources say the Senators tried to deal Korpisalo at the March trade deadline, but it’s unlikely there will be a market for him this summer unless the Senators are willing to eat salary and include a sweetener.

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The best bet is to see if anybody is willing to take the final year of Forsberg’s $2.75 million contract off the books.

The Senators kicked tires on Boston goalie Linus Ullmark in March and the expectation is they’ll get back to those discussions around the draft. The issue is there will be a lot of competition, especially after Ullmark was relegated to No. 2 during the playoffs and may be more open to a move.

The expectation is after taking calls on Jakob Chychrun before the deadline that talk could turn to action. He’s headed into the final year of his contract at $4.6 million and the Senators should be able to get a good return. It would make sense if this happened before the draft.

The future of Jacob Bernard-Docker is clouded and it would be no surprise if the club exercised a buyout on veteran Travis Hamonic, who has one year left at $1 million on his deal.

Will the Senators sign veteran Chris Tanev as a unrestricted free agent? The club made a hard push for him during the season, but was unsuccessful in convincing him to wave his ‘no move clause’ to come here.

Up front, Josh Norris — who had his third shoulder surgery of his short career in February — has to come back healthy and prepared to help push this club to another level along with Brady Tkachuk.

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Tim Stutzle struggled with consistency last year and will have to improve his two-way game under new coach Travis Green or the skilled centre could find himself sitting for lengthy stretches. The top two lines are set with veteran Claude Giroux, Tkachuk, Norris, Drake Batherson, Stutzle and Ridly Greig.

The Senators’ third and fourth lines need to be upgraded while Pinto will continue to play a pivotal role by pushing for more playing time.

With two years left at $2.95 million per season, you’re going to hear a lot about the future of winger Mathieu Joseph between now and the draft. He got off to a good start last season, but didn’t have a strong finish.

The Senators need to add another veteran. A guy like winger Tyler Toffoli, who finished the year with the Winnipeg Jets, makes sense and would help take some of the pressure off Giroux.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

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